In a scruffy minicab office, Mansha decides it’s time to create his own destiny and offers to buy the business from his lifelong friend Raf. As the realities of the state of the company slowly unravel, these two best friends must confront the difficulties of going into business with those closest to them.

Set in the North of England in the aftermath of Margaret Thatcher’s death, Approaching Empty is a compelling drama by award-winning playwright Ishy Din (Snookered, Best New Play at Manchester Theatre Awards), which lays bare the everyday struggles of a post-industrial generation of British men.

Approaching Empty in rehearsals

Production photography by Helen Murray

Rehearsal photographs by Helen Murray

Creative Team

Ishy Din, Writer

Ishy’s first radio play was John Barnes Saved My Life for BBC Radio 5 Live. Radio credits since include Life’s Like That and Parking and Pakoras. His play Snookered was produced by Tamasha in 2012 and toured to the Traverse Edinburgh and a four-week run at the Bush Theatre, London. Ishy was the 2012 Pearson Writer in Residence at the Manchester Royal Exchange, and in 2013 Snookered won Best New Play at the Manchester Theatre Awards. In the same year, he wrote short film Perfume for Eclipse Theatre’s 10 x 10 online project. In 2013, Ishy’s half hour standalone comedy drama Doughnuts was broadcast on C4 as part of its Coming Up season, and short film Our Lad was produced, directed by Rachna Suri, which was selected for multiple international festivals. In 2014, Ishy’s monologue for Company TSU played in a double bill called Beats North at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and on tour, and he took part in the Bush/Kudos new writing scheme.

In 2016/2017, Ishy wrote on C4 series Ackley Bridge, eps in series 1 & 2 and took part in the prestigious Media XChange Advanced Writing For Television Drama Programme. In 2016, his play Wipers, a Leicester Curve/Watford Palace/Belgrade, Coventry co-production toured to those three theatres. In 2015/16 Ishy developed Midnight Dreams, an original drama pilot under the BBC TV Drama Writers Programme. Other original projects in development include feature film, Fraud, through Gurinder Chadha’s company Bend It Networks and Paak United, with producer Paul Kewley, both projects development funded by Creative England. In 2018 Taxi Tales, produced by Tamasha, was broadcast on BBC2 as part of BBC LIVE, (BAC/ACE/BBC) live theatre broadcast.

Arun Ghosh is a British Asian clarinettist, composer and multi-instrumentalist. He has released four albums: Northern Namaste, Primal Odyssey, A South Asian Suite, and But Where Are You Really From? A renowned innovator of modern IndoJazz, he tours nationally and internationally as a bandleader. As a composer for theatre, he has worked on over 100 productions since his professional debut in 2002, Storm by Lemn Sissay at Contact, Manchester. Arun regularly composes music for Tamasha: previous productions include Child of the Divide, My Name Is..., Blood and Made In India.

Karan trained at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. Theatre includes: Ray Singh in The Lovely Bones (UK Tour); Asaph Chawn in The Captive Queen (Shakespeare’s Globe); Pali in Child of the Divide (UK Tour). Film includes: Rama in Boogieman (MGMM). Roles whilst training include: Dash in A Serious Case of the F*ckits; Spanish Gentleman in The Heresy of Love. Other credits: Swiss Cheese in Mother Courage (Royal Exchange Theatre); Sweet Love Remember’d and All Places That the Eye of Heaven Visits (Shakespeare’s Globe).

Maanuv is a Bristol Old Vic graduate and after finishing he was part of their anniversary performance of King Lear alongside Timothy West. After this Maanuv was cast in BBC2’s The Boy with the Top Knot, directed by Lyndsey Miller. Last year, Maanuv appeared alongside a star cast, including Andrew Scott, in Hamlet in the West End transfer directed by Rob Icke. Most recently he appeared in A Passage to India at Park Theatre, directed by Sebastian Armesto, as well as Trojan Horse, which was awarded an Edinburgh Fringe First and the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award.